Cambridge Gray Paint

[Geoff Kingston]

Please forgive me if I have raised this topic before but does anyone know a source for the early shade of Cambridge Gray paint as used on the 400's and 401's or the names of the original suppliers and their paint codes.
Geoff.

[Geoff Kingston]

Someone must know something, please help on this subject as I have been contacted by three owners off forum who are also looking for this information and thought I might have had a response to the question here and on another forum which has been equally silent on the subject.
Geoff.

[Kevin H]

Geoff,

There have been numerous discussions on this site about paint colours before, including Cambridge Grey, none of which have yielded much specific information.

It seems the colour was Metaline M6024 Cambridge Grey, but maybe that was Bristol's interpretation of Cambridge Grey.

Assuming the paint was made by Metaline in Germany, maybe they could help. It seems they only make special protective coatings nowadays.

Also, have you asked Bristol Cars?

Regards,
Kevin

[Geoff Kingston]

Kevin,
Thanks for the lead to Metaline this is information I can pass on to two suppliers of Cellulose paint for older cars who now at least will have something to work on.
I must admit I had not thought of asking Bristol Cars I will have to give Brian a ring. I have been able to get a very good paint match on another 401 which had been painted in Rolls Royce Garnet some 30 years ago but never gone back on the road, a period of bad storage had resulted in extensive Micro Blistering but worse still areas of the paint are failing and it looks as though etch primer had not been applied, the pity is at a distance the car still looks shiny and smart. It had been painted in 2 pack and the local paint sprayer I use quite rightly says the only way to do it properly is to remove the paint and start again.
I am more concerned with getting LRU finished and getting this car back on the road. Autopaints of Brighton have supplied cellulose paint mixed to the Rolls Royce colour code which is an excellent match and therefore for the time being localised touching up will be the order of the day.
They can also supply other paint finishes such as 2 pack to the trade and seem to have an extensive data base for a lot of older cars but sadly not Bristol.
Thanks for your help.
Geoff.

[Geoff Kingston]

A fellow Bristol owner has very kindly lent me a colour chart for a 407 which has two types of Cambridge Grey paint, the non metallic is code number M1061 the metallic is Metaline M6024 as Kevin confirmed previously.
I cant remember from a previous post regarding a metallic blue finish if I had suggested Metaline was a brand or a type of finish, the important thing now though with the colour chart I have been able to confirm by matching it to the car that the original Cambridge Grey finish on my 401 was Metaline M6024.
Now the fun starts, I have recently seen a 401 and 400 painted in Cambridge Grey, both were a slightly lighter shade, perhaps closer to the non metallic M1061 but not as dark as the colour on my car, obviously the fact that one is a metallic colour will have a bearing on the look and the other factor that does not help is that I am slightly colour blind. I am going to take the chart to my friends who will be paining the car and get some test samples made.
One thing almost immediately apparent however is that the metallic dark grey and metallic silver are virtually the same as Rolls Royce Tudor and Shell Grey at least in their early 60's formulation.
Tudor Grey would at least for me look rather nice on the 401 and would make up for the fact that I painted my S2 in Astral Blue and Shell Grey when it was originally Tudor Grey, then again Astral Blue would look rather nice.
Geoff